LAS VEGAS – The Aztecs went into Saturday night’s season finale at UNLV with a 3-1 record in overtime this year — including OT wins in its last two games.

San Diego State (7-5 overall, 6-2 Mountain West) had also won its last four games after trailing at the half.

But perhaps it was just a matter of time before that came screeching to a halt.

At Sam Boyd Stadium on a night in which SDSU was supposed to pad its bowl résumé and clinch a share of the Mountain West West division title, the Aztecs finally ran into a team whose will overcame their own.

Determined to send their 18 seniors out with a win on Senior Night, the resurgent Rebels (7-5, 5-3) imposed their will on SDSU and rolled to a dominating 45-19 win.

It was the Aztecs’ biggest defeat since they lost 42-7 to Ohio State on Sept. 7.

“You’ve got to give them credit. We didn’t play really well, and they played really well,” SDSU coach Rocky Long said. “They came to play, and obviously we didn’t come to play.”

SDSU never managed to corral Herring on the ground, and the quarterback also made the Aztecs pay through the air, going 20 of 30 for 270 passing yards with five touchdowns. Herring also had 60 rushing yards and one rushing score.

“I thought when we rushed (with) four guys, we did a very poor job of keeping him in the pocket, and he gained some yards and got some first downs which forced us to blitz some, and our corners got tore up,” Long said. “They had a wide receiver who had a great night and we couldn’t cover him.”

UNLV’s junior receiver Devante Davis had a 171 receiving yards and became only the third Rebel in school history to catch four touchdown passes in a game.

The Aztecs opened the game with two bold offensive plays. Las Vegas native D.J. Pumphrey got 30 yards on an end around, which set up a flea flicker that passed through the hands of Adam Muema and Ezell Ruffin before quarterback Quinn Kaehler fired off into the end zone for a 39-yard touchdown pass to Colin Lockett.

But that offensive audacity quickly sizzled as the Aztecs allowed UNLV to score 24 unanswered points to go into the locker room at halftime up 24-7.

The Herring-to-Davis connection shredded SDSU’s defense for touchdowns of 5, 10 and 63 yards in the first half.

After the break, Herring hurt the Aztecs with his legs, running for a 5-yard touchdown.

SDSU finally broke the Rebels’ 31-point scoring streak at the 2:27 mark in the third quarter with an 11-play, 59-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Pumphrey.

But UNLV’s offense was not to be denied.

The Rebels just kept scoring, seemingly at will.

Herring threw a 32-yard touchdown to Marcus Sullivan, then came back and lofted his fifth scoring pass and the fourth to Davis.